ACE TECH 2012, an Exhibition of Architecture, Construction and Engineering Consultants at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi organised by Economic Times from 6 to 12 december 2012.

Click on the Link to View Full Album and Slide Show

Read more ...

Artist's conception of Phoenix Cluster

Astronomers have found one of the largest objects in the universe, a galaxy cluster where stars are forming more rapidly than anywhere else yet observed. It is called the Phoenix cluster , 5.7 billion light years away in the southern sky.

Read more ...

Samsung launches its Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet

Samsung launched its Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet amid patent war with Apple.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 sports a proven, sensible design, a bevy of useful features, and fast performance. The "S Pen" Stylus is a unique addition that can be used like a pen on paper or a computer mouse.

Samsung with the help of Japan-based Wacom built the tablet screen to create a layer that can sense "S Pens" so precisely it can tell how hard they are being pressed or even if they are hovering, slightly out of touch. The S Pen adds a lot more accuracy and control."

If you don't to use "S Pens" then don't use it. "S Pen" doesn't work on most of the applications but only default ones and if it works then its complicated.

Galaxy Note 10.1 tablets are powered by Google's Android 4.0.4 software and feature powerful quad-core processors as well as two gigabytes of RAM for quick handling of videos, games and other graphics rich content.

The tablets are Wi-Fi enabled to connect with the Internet at hotspots and will be available in the United States on Wednesday at prices of $500 for a 16 gigabyte model and $550 for a 32-gigabyte model, according to Samsung.

Tablet lets users hand write notes or scrawl comments on images or documents and then store them or post them to social networks or send them in email messages.

"With the S Pen, using pressure, one can get as fine or as thick a line as possible." "It is almost like pencil on paper. We really believe this is a game changer."

The tablet also knows to ignore pressure from the palm of someone using an S Pen, freeing users to write or draw naturally.

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 software can convert handwriting to text or crudely drawn objects to crisp geometric figures, and even correct written scientific or mathematical formulas.

Samsung worked with Adobe to make free Photoshop software that allows people to use S pens to edit images on the Note 10.1 with accuracy and control.

Note 10.1 comes in a white model and a black model sports a wider bezel, is a bit thinner, and weighs slightly more than the Tab 2 10.1.

Speakers grace the right and left bezel and the top bezel sports a 1.9-megapixel camera that sits right next to an ambient light sensor. Directly opposite, on the back, is a 5- megapixel LED flash-supported camera.

The top edge holds a power button, a volume rocker, a microSD slot (supporting cards of up to 64GB), an IR blaster, and a headphone jack.

On the bottom edge are the dock connector and a microphone pinhole. The tablet is fairly light and comfortable to hold and while it does feel like smooth plastic.

Lastly, there's a 4-inch-long, ill-placed holding space in the tablet's bottom-right corner for the S Pen Stylus. The problems with this placement are, one, the S Pen can easily fall out if you're holding the tablet up while removing it, and two, when the tablet sits in a docking station, the holding space is too close to the desktop for the S Pen to be removed unless you undock it first. Not a huge design faux pas, but just a strange choice not to place the holding space on the top.

The S Pen has gotten a redesign since its appearance on the original Galaxy Note . The new stylus is longer and thicker, and has its sides squared off to keep it from unexpectedly rolling away. Also, the pen button is now grooved to make it a bit easier to find with your fingertips; however, I found myself consistently pressing the button by mistake.

The point of the S Pen is to give you an alternative to using your fingers, and while this feels fine for navigating menus and swiping through pages, when it comes time to type, I prefer using both hands, as it's faster and more comfortable than the search-and-peck routine the S Pen forces you into. Also, the stock S Pen is a little too light and thin for my tastes. I much preferred using the original S Pen encased in the S Pen Holder Kit with its extra weight and mass making it feel much more like a actual, quality, ink pen.

Samsung also built some shortcut gestures into the pen, making tasks like screen capture, calling up an app's menu, and going back to the previous screen a simple act of holding down the pen button and swiping or tapping the screen in the appropriate way.

Basic Specs:
Dimensions (W x D x H) : 10.11 in x 0.35 in x 6.9 in
OS provided : Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
Installed RAM : 2 GB
Processor : 1.4 GHz
Display type : 10.1 in
Weight : 1.29 lbs

Read more ...

Sergey Brin in his Google Glasses with Ironman Tony Stark.

The Google Glass demo will go down in history as one of the most elaborate product launches. Sergey Brin’s video featured two skydivers jump out of a blimp over San Francisco wearing the Google Glass headwear. The video was streamlined directly to the Moscone Center—housing the annual Google  I/O—using Google+’s Hangout feature, which allows several parties to access and participate in a live real-time videoconference. Brin said while onstage, “This is one of the things we’ve been experimenting with Glass, the ability to really share. We’ve shown photos but this is something we haven’t tried.”

Sergey Brin gave the play-by-play as a troop of skydivers, bikers, and rope rappelers converged on the Moscone convention center, in a scene that could have been the opening sequence of a "Mission Impossible" movie.

The skydivers made jumping out of an airship look easy. But before they could do it, Google had some challenges to overcome, not the least of which was how to get a good Internet connection at 4,000 feet.
Not only was it the first time skydivers using wing-suits got permission to jump out of a zeppelin airship in the U.S., but the feat posed some odd technical problems that Google engineers solved after a MacGyver moment or two.

For instance, the Glasses weren't designed to be worn by someone falling through the air at 200 miles an hour in bright sunlight. In early testing on the ground, engineers worried that the glare from the sun would interfere with the devices, according to Google. At one point, they applied electrical tape to the lenses to serve as a sort of filter. Eventually, they came up with a better solution -- they applied photochromic film to the lenses.
An even bigger problem to figure out was how to get the live video feed of what the skydivers were seeing through the Glasses and out to the Internet. This is not a simple feat in a city where cell phone reception itself can be spotty on the streets below.

How's this for ingenuity? Early on in the project, the team grabbed a Wok--yes, the kind for sauteing vegetables--and tried to use it as a broadcast dish. They attached a Nexus Galaxy smartphone to it and pointed it up at the sky. That initial idea was rejected in favor of more workable solutions, though Google hasn't shared the details yet.

But forget the technology. The question on many peoples' minds was who did the company have to bribe to get permission to carry out such a potentially dangerous and unprecedented stunt in downtown San Francisco? What started out as a joke at an early planning meeting about six weeks ago, ended up being the talk of the town and the highlight of the Google I/O developer conference this week. There was some red tape involved and costs for equipment and hiring the skydivers and the airship company, but apparently no money paid to officials.

The company got cooperation from NASA Ames, which is in Mountain View, Calif., practically the company's backyard, as well as from the San Francisco Mayor's Office. And, most importantly, it got all the necessary approvals from the Federal Aviation Administration, which set additional stringent requirements to allow the stunt over a populated area. For instance, there were requirements governing experience of jumpers, height for opening chutes, and communications between the ground and the pilot and the air traffic controller. "They had a thorough vetting," said FAA spokesman Ian Gregor.

And what was it like to jump over San Francisco wearing such high-tech goggles? "It was pretty spectacular," Keri Bell, the only female among the skydivers, told the reporters. "It was like having rock star status, being part of such a huge event."

Here is the video of the Google Glass skydiving demo from Google I/O.

Read more ...

Aakash, the world's cheapest tablet, will be fully indigenous soon and its improved version will be launched by the government at the same price.

Telecom and HRD Minister Kapil Sibal said Datawind - the manufacturer of the product -will not be associated with it anymore and the Government has roped in C-DAC and ITI in further development of the tablet computer.

"There have been some problem with Datawind I must confess. Therefore, I have got into the act. IT Ministry has got C-DAC and ITI into the act and I am going to ensure that this product is fully indigenous and truly an Indian product," he said.
On whether the new tablet will be available within the same price range as that of the earlier product, he said, "Yes that's what we hope. It is to be upgraded."

On the possible timeline for launching it, he said, "Well, 2012 should seen the sun... Aakash-II should be launched. There have been some hiccups in the way. Remember when you do a project of this nature and when your dream is as big as this, things are never that smooth."

Welcoming competition from market for development of the tablet, he said the ultimate objective is to give a quality product to the children. "I think its a great thing if there is competition. Ultimately my objective is to get a quality product in the hands of the children. I have set the benchmark, it has changed the mindset of the world, I can tell you that," the Minister said.

Everybody now wants to produce a tablet which is of quality and which is reasonably affordable, he noted.

"So if the whole world wants to produce, I don't care who produces, if ultimately it is produced by somebody for children," he underlined.
The Aakash tablet is priced at
approximately USD 49 (Rs 2,414).

Read more ...

Nokia has come up with its first Windows Phone in India, the Lumia 800, which runs the latest Windows Phone 7.5 aka Mango.

The mobile phone has been priced for Rs 29,000 and will hit the stores in the country next month.
The long awaited Nokia Lumia handset both appears as well as feels great, as it was expected. Well it can be said it was worth waiting for so long for the device.

Lumia 800 equips a clear black 3.7-inch impressive touchscreen display, supporting 480 x 800 pixels
resolution. The mobile phone offers an interesting feature that is, its 252 ppi pixel density, due to which is offers a crisp view.

It comes designed with a 12.1 mm thick body and weighs 142 grams which is not light. However the last month launched Samsung Omnia is lighter in weight and has a sleek design in comparison to it. The new Nokia Lumia 800 comes in three different colour options that are cyan, black and fascia, due to which you'll find the device looking fresh and attractive.

The gizmo packs a powerful 1.4 GHz application processor to run Windows Phone Mango 7.5. Besides, it also embeds a 512 MB of RAM to allows faster and better performance. The latest creation of the brand offers native Windows user interface comprising fantastic live tiles, and works amazingly.

Nokia Lumia 800 equips an 8- megapixel main camera and Carl Zeiss optics lens for clear images.
Moreover, the device also comes along with a dual LED flash that allows clear videos and pictures even when there is inappropriate lighting.

The device is capable of recording 720p HD videos. The latest Nokia smartphone has an on-board memory of up to 16 GB. It has been created emphasizing on its looks and designed quite like the Nokia N9, which has not released in many of the markets.

Overall the Nokia Lumia 800 is an excellent device, however it seems a bit over priced, especially when users have  cheaper option Samsung's first Windows Phone Omnia W.

Read more ...

Global handset maker Nokia,along with Microsoft, on Monday announced the launch of its first smartphone based on the Windows operating system in the Indian market.

The move is expected to boost Nokia’s presence in the smartphone market, which has seen the company lose market share steadily.

Lumia 800

Lumia 710

The phones — Lumia 800 and Lumia 710 — have been priced at about $580 and $380 globally, respectively, and would be available in the retail market from mid-December.

Nokia would do away with the Symbian platform in the coming years, and replace it with the Windows operating system in all its smartphones, said Nokia India Managing Director, D Shivakumar. “The success of any phone in India is decided within three-four weeks of its launch, and we are confident that this is a winner, since we have already trained about 12,500 distributors, retailers and priority dealers who can sell Nokia Windows phone to smartphone buyers,” Shivakumar said.

The smartphone market, expected to account for 20 percent of the total handset market in value terms, has become a hotbed for handset vendors. Nokia unveiled its smartphone nearly a week
ahead of Apple, which is rumoured to launch the iPhone 4S in India on November 24.

The Finnish handset company expects the smartphone market in India to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 50 per cent in 2010-15, owing to 3G services and increased data usage. Globally, Nokia fell to No. 3 slot in the smartphone market, behind Samsung and Apple, according to market researcher Strategy Analytics. The company, however, continues to account for almost 30 per cent of market share in India.

For Microsoft, the smartphone platform presents a huge opportunity to tap theconsumer market. With a large presence in the government and education sectors in India, Microsoft is confident that the Windows phone would become the second-most popular smartphone operating system by 2015.

While rivals Samsung and HTC already have smartphones on the Windows platform, Bhaskar Pramanik, chairman, Microsoft India, said, “What matters is the hardware and software integration. We have worked closely with Nokia to offer a unique user experience to users of the Lumia range of devices.”

Microsoft Windows operating system is expected to grow at 123 per cent until 2015 in the global market. Currently, in India, the operating system has less than one per cent market share, according to StatCounter data.

“It is more important for Nokia to provide consumers a strong experience in targeted markets and listen to consumer feedback to improve and further differentiate future Windows smartphone releases, than it is to quickly ramp volume of its initial Windows launch,” say analysts at
Canaccord.

The new Lumia range has the internet explorer 9 browser and in-built social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter embedded into the operating system. The range also boasts of applications such as Nokia Maps and Drive, which would have personal navigation devices in 50
languages, including Hindi. The company would offer maps of 100 countries and 750 cities across India free on all Nokia Lumia devices. Nokia Music and the MixRadio, a free global mobile music streaming application, would also be available. These services would be made available in India in
the first half of 2012.

Nokia would also provide 750 local applications by nearly 1,000 Indian developers on the Lumia device. The device has already been launched in Europe.

Read more ...

Secret desk drawer that opens with a magnetic handle

This project is about concealing valuables, secrets, bad habits and personal information in our workplaces. Here, hidden spaces/ messages were created within 8 general objects such as wood boards, lamps and disposable coffee cups.

Why doing this?
We all have the need of hiding.

We hide our valuables from being stolen, we conceal our past from our loved ones, we never show our real side to colleagues, we all have secrets. Or, sometimes we just want to keep something only for ourselves.

How?
Utilize stereotypes and visual camouflage.

We make judgments based mainly on our experiences and what we see. This dependency on visual information can create large blind spots. Thus, usual stereotypes of how we perceive solid, transparency and lighting are employed in this project to play with notions of ‘solid and void’, and ‘true and false’.

Read more ...

AAKASH - World Cheapest Tablet (updated)
PRICE@1700 rupees, 1100 for students. (update: Rs 2999)
Available in November. To book it online see How to Book Aakash Tablet Online
Features of World Cheapest Tablet Launched by Indian Government: The tablet runs on Android 2.2 (Froyo) and comes with a 7-inch resistive touchscreen with 800x480 resolution and weighs 350 grams.

The tablet has a 256MB of RAM, a 32GB expandable memory slot and two USB ports.The tablet comes with a 12-month replacement warranty and supports formats like DOC, DOCX, PDF and PPTX etc. Aakash has a standard 3.5mm headphone jack...
World Cheapest Tablet:
The mighty $35 Indian Tablet is finally launched in India on October 5. Kapil Sibal, minister of communications and information technology confirmed.In Indian Rupee, the price of the tablet is Rs. 1700. The Indian Government will subsidize the cost of the tablet and offer it to students for about Rs. 1100.

Specifications:

• 366 Mhz Processor and a dedicated HD video processor
• Android 2.2 Froyo
• 7 inch Resistive touch screen
• Full HD video playback
• 2100maH battery
• 256 MB RAM
• RAM : 256 MB
• 2GB internal memory + 2GB Micro-SD (expandable up to 32 GB)
• Wi Fi connectivity
• 2 USB ports
• Dimensions: 190.5 X 118.5 X 15.7 mm
• Weight: 350 gms

The device will be sold as DataWind Ubislate for Rs 2999 inclusive of taxes and will be available from Nov.2011.
You can check the review of the tablet by NDTV.

Read more ...

Reliance communications today announced another addition to its portfolio of Android CDMA smartphones in the form of CoolPad D530. This entry-level smartphone runs on Android 2.1 and will be sold for  NR7,999. Other CDMA Android phones with RCOM are Galaxy Pop, Galaxy I500, Galaxy I899, and Motorola XT800.

CoolPad D530 features 3.5 inch display with 480×320 pixels resolution, 2MP camera, 1280 mAh battery, WiFi and Bluetooth 2.0.

“In the current scenario, we see Reliance CDMA as the key driver of mobile data business in India. Feature-rich CDMA handsets will play a crucial role in addressing this segment.”

Sami Al-Lawati, Managing Director, Coolpad Communications RCom is also offering various 100% cashback plans with the smartphone, you can find out more about them at the nearest Reliance store.

Read more ...

A small private company has announced the launch of a new Android-based tablet for India and it is priced at a mere $99. Well, the pricing does seem quite shocking, but the company, Lakshmi Access Communication Systems (LACS) are planning to bring in not just one, but a few low-cost versions of tablets, which they claim will rival Apple’s iPad 2 and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1.

The Magnum Pepper

The $99 base model tablet, named Magnum Pepper Tablet PC, works on Google’s Android 2.2 OS and comes with an 800 MHz processor and 256MB RAM. It has a 7-inch LCD sensitive touch display, but the display type hasn’t been divulged. Whether it’s capacitive or resistive might make a big impact in the tablet’s sales. We’re pinning our hopes on a capacitive touch screen. However, it’s more likely to be a resistive one. Furthermore, the base model will have Wi-Fi, RJ45 LAN port, USB 2.0, MicroSD card support up to 32GB, 3G compatible dongle, 3.5mm jack, G-sensors, front camera and built-in 2GB of memory. With all these features and at that price this tablet is definitely a steal!

Price Comparison Chart

We’ve drawn a comparison between four of the major tablets currently and you can gauge the price difference between the Magnum Pepper and the rest. The price is definitely impressive and may directly compete with the Reliance 3G tablet and Beetel Teletech’s Magiq tablet. However, it’s the specs and the performance that will eventually decide the fate of the tablet. But, it seems that local competition has increased and that is nothing but good news for consumers.

Read more ...

VAIO C Notebooks available in any colour you like

<<Sony India launches its new colourful range of Sony Vaio Notebooks



Sony’s latest series of trendy notebooks, the VAIO C, comes in many colours including red, orange and black. The outer shell of the notebook is primarily made up of translucent plastic, making it look more like a kid’s toy than anything else.

 The lid has a bit of flex, but the screen is sturdy and doesn’t ripple when its edged are pinched. The chiclet-style keyboard is backlit and the best part with an ambient light sensor automatically turning it on or off according to the lighting conditions.

Horsepower
The notebook may look like a toy, but it packs in serious horsepower beneath those flashing lights. Intel’s Core i5-2410M takes centrestage, running at a speed of 2.3GHz with the ability to turbo up to 2.9GHz. There’s a single 4GB DDR3 memory stick, so you can add another one yourself later. For storage, you get a 500GB hard drive spinning at 7200rpm. The C series makes for a decent gaming laptop as well, with AMD’s HD 6630M and dynamic switchable graphics.

The 14-inch LED backlit screen sports a resolution of 1366x768, which is good enough for general and multimedia playback. The 1.3MP webcam also features Sony’s ‘Exmor’ video engine for a clearer picture. The Core i5 processor is a very capable performer for everyday tasks and copes well even under stress. Games run fairly well too.

Keyboard is great
At 2.45kg, you’ll definitely feel the VAIO’s weight in your backpack. That aside, the keyboard is a dream to use with great play. Even while charging, the notebook only gets a bit warm, which is impressive. Finally, the built-in speakers are loud and clear but lack bass.


Switchable graphics
This is one of the first notebooks we’ve come across which has a dynamically switching graphics card. The Catalyst software in the notebook has a new option called ‘Switchable Graphics’ that lets you configure which programmes use the dedicated graphics card and which ones use the onboard hardware. But this feature is not as polished as compared to Nvidia’s Optimus.

Average battery life
Under average usage, you should easily manage 2.5-3 hours with ‘Power Saver Mode’ on and brightness level set to medium.

What we like
Good choice of colours
Powerful Intel Core i5 processor.
Easy to install a new hard disk or memory

What we don’t
Average battery life of only 2.5-3 hours
Switchable graphics not as good as Nvidia’s Optimus

Verdict
At R 55,990 for the model we tested (VPCCA15FG), the VAIO C is a good buy given its features and performance. Funky looks apart, it has ample firepower under all the hippie lighting effects. Highlights include the auto-switchable graphics, auto-backlighting of the keyboard and a comfortable keyboard. It can also handle DX10 games pretty well without compromising too much on quality. Just watch out for so-so battery life and the weight.

Read more ...

A team of scientists has created a battery so small that it fits into a "nanowire," a wire whose thickness is less than the wavelength of visible light. It's the smallest battery ever made, and it could end up powering a whole generation of nanotechnology.

The potential of nanotechnology—the practice of building machines so small that they can't even be seen—has been talked about for decades. In medicine, for example, the idea of creating tiny robots that could enter a person's bloodstream and target intruders or diseased cells has been touted as one of the most promising applications of the field, but it's remained purely theoretical.

One of the hurdles standing in the way of such wondrous nanodevices is their power supplies—making batteries at such a tiny scale is difficult. Now a team of engineers from Rice University appears to have solved that problem by creating a battery just 50 microns, or about the thickness of a human hair.

To create the battery (see the diagrom below), the researchers first coated a nanowire template with a thin layer of copper. They then filled the pores (which create the individual nanowires) halfway with a nickel/tin alloy to create the anodes. At this point, they put on a thin layer of polyethylene-oxide gel, which acts as both an electrolyte and an insulator from the other nanowires. Next they filled the remainder of the pore with a polyaniline material to create the cathodes. A layer of aluminium goes on top to complete the circuit.

Every nanowire is just 150 nanometers (nm) thin. To put that in perspective, the lowest wavelength of visible light is about 400 nm. However, the complete battery is about 50 microns tall, or about the width of human hair. The researchers ended up creating an array of nanowire batteries that was about 0.08 square inches in area, though it's theoretically scalable to even larger sizes.

With a larger array that includes several layers stacked on top of each other, the tech could theoretically lead to batteries with massive energy density. And since the electrochemical materials don't contain lithium, they're easy to synthesize and manipulate at room temperature.

The nanowire batteries aren't without their limitations, however. After being charged and discharged 20 times, they lose their ability to hold a full charge. The researchers are working on addressing this limitation, however, by playing with the polymer thickness and trying out different kinds of electrodes.

Although it's in the early stages, the new battery technology could help usher in an era of practical nanomachines. With a real microscopic power source, the science-fiction scenario of tiny machines acting as doctors, builders, and explorers just took a step toward reality.

Read more ...

When the space shuttle Atlantis lands on Thursday, it will wrap up STS-135, the final shuttle mission in the U.S. program's 30-year history.

Even with the tragic losses of Challenger and Columbia, the space shuttle has become an icon among U.S. science and technology achievements. During the past three decades, shuttles carried the first U.S. woman and the first African American into space, deployed famous satellites such as the Hubble Space Telescope, and delivered valuable parts and supplies to the International Space Station (ISS).

"The space shuttle has been with us at the heart and soul of the human spaceflight program for about 30 years, and it's a little sad to see it go away," STS-135 mission commander Christopher Ferguson recently told reporters in a televised interview from the ISS.

"It's going to be an emotional moment for a lot of people that dedicated their lives to the shuttle program for 30 years. But we're going to try to keep it upbeat ... We're going to try to make it a celebration of the tremendous crowning achievements that have occurred."

View Fullscreen Slideshow

Sitting on a rolling platform, the space shuttle Challenger emerges from the mist at Kennedy Space Center in Florida as it heads toward the launch pad, just visible in the distance, in November 1982. Challenger lifted off on its maiden voyage in
April 1983 for the sixth shuttle mission.

Astronaut Sally Ride floats in front of the control panels for the space shuttle Challenger on June 25, 1983, while serving as a mission specialist for STS-7. Ride became the first U.S. woman in space during this mission.

Astronauts John M. Grunsfeld (right) and Richard M. Linnehan stand next to the Hubble Space Telescope, which was brought into the space shuttle Columbia's payload bay for repairs during STS-109, as seen on March 8, 2002.

The space shuttle Endeavour—payload bay doors ajar —rushes past Earth while docked to the International Space Station on May 28, 2011.

Suspended above the planet, the space shuttle Endeavour is silhouetted against the layers of Earth's atmosphere in a picture taken by an ISS crew member on February 9, 2010. The shot shows the shuttle shortly before it docked with the space station during STS-130.

Seen outside the space shuttle Discovery during STS-51-A, astronaut Dale Gardner enjoys a moment of levity as he completes a spacewalk to recover two broken communications satellites from orbit on November 14, 1984. Astronaut Joseph P. Allen IV is seen reflected in Gardner's helmet visor.

The space shuttle Columbia sits on a launch pad at Kennedy Space Center on March 5, 1981. Columbia launched on the first shuttle flight, STS-1, on April 12, 1981.  Following the first two launches, NASA calculated that they could safely shave 600 pounds (272 kilograms) from a shuttle's overall launch weight by not painting the large external fuel tank white and instead leaving its orange insulating foam exposed.

A softly glowing plume is all that remains visible of the space shuttle Endeavour after a nighttime launch from Florida's Kennedy Space Center on March 11, 2008.

Originally slated to bear the name Constitution, the first space shuttle to be built was dubbed Enterprise following a write-in campaign from Star Trek fans. Above, cast members from the science- fiction show attend the shuttle's rollout ceremony in Palmdale, California, on September 17, 1976. From left to right: Leonard Nimoy, who portrayed Vulcan science officer Spock; George Takei, who was helmsman Hikaru Sulu; DeForest Kelly, who was chief medical officer Leonard "Bones" McCoy; and James Doohan, who was chief engineer Montgomery "Scotty" Scott.

Spectators gather in the late-morning heat to watch the space shuttle Atlantis lift off for STS-135, the final shuttle mission, on July 8, 2011.

A cloud of debris spreads in the sky over coastal Florida as the space shuttle Challenger breaks apart on January 28, 1986. The orbiter disintegrated 74 seconds after launch during STS- 61-C, killing all seven crew members.

Earth seems ready for loading into the space shuttle Endeavour's open payload bay in a picture taken in December 1998 using an onboard IMAX camera. The large-format camera was sent into space during STS-88 in part to film the installation of the Unity Node, the first U.S. module for the International Space Station.

Technicians work on a test firing of a space shuttle main engine at the National Space Technology Laboratories in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, before the first flight of Columbia in 1981.

The crew of STS-102 works on the flight deck of the space shuttle Discovery to dock the shuttle with the International Space Station on March 10, 2001.

A technician inspects one of the nylon parachutes used to slow the descent of a space shuttle's solid rocket boosters before STS-1 in 1981. The 80-ton rockets detached shortly after launch and splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean, where they were recovered for reuse.

Riding piggyback on a Boeing 747, the test shuttle Enterprise glides over the New York City skyline in June 1983. Unable to fly like airplanes under their own power, shuttle orbiters had to be transported long distances atop of other aircraft.

A tornado forms a dark column near the launch pad, where the space shuttle Columbia waits to launch on STS-93, as seen on July 20, 1999. The shuttle lifted off July 23, carrying NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory into orbit.

Staff at the Mission Control Center of Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, monitor the landing of the space shuttle Columbia on April 14, 1981, after the first ever shuttle mission to reach orbit.

Curling like bizarre sigils in the sky, plume remnants from the June 8, 2007, launch of the space shuttle Atlantis glow with the light of the setting sun. The so-called night-shining clouds created by the launch are seen over the Vehicle Assembly Building, or VAB.

Seen from the space shuttle's payload bay, astronaut Mark Lee goes for an untethered spacewalk outside Discovery in September 1994

A huge crowd—many driving recreational vehicles— gathers to watch the space shuttle Columbia land on July 4, 1982, at Edwards Air Force Base in California at the end of STS-4.

A charred astronaut helmet lying in the grass near Norwood, Texas, was among the debris found after the space shuttle Columbia broke apart during reentry on February 1, 2003. The orbiter had completed STS-107 and was returning for landing, but damaged heat shielding caused the craft to disintegrate, killing all seven crew members.

In preparation for STS-135, the space shuttle Atlantis is lifted high inside the Vehicle Assembly Building on May 18, 2011, so it can be attached to the "stack"—the combination of the large external fuel tank and twin solid rocket boosters.

The gentle green glow of the aurora australis—or southern lights—curls over Earth in a picture taken by an astronaut aboard the space shuttle Discovery on August 6, 2005.

Like a delicate water ballet, astronauts practice for a shuttle mission on December 10, 1997, in the Sonny Carter Training Facility—a giant swimming pool filled with life-size replicas of space hardware—at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

Cocoa Beach surfers watch from the water as the space shuttle Atlantis lifts off from nearby Kennedy Space Center in Florida on September 8, 2000.

Read more ...